Ghoulfriends Forever
Ghoulfriends Forever is the first book in the ''Ghoulfriends'' series by Gitty Daneshvari. It was released on September 05, 2012 after its announcement was the subject of the Freaky Fab 13 update of August. Summary ;Chapter One It is the first day at Monster High for Rochelle Goyle, a student from Scaris, France, who will be staying in the on-campus dormitory. Despite her best intentions, her first moments aren't made easy when she is given a tour by Ms. Nami, the new Deputy of Disaster at Monster High. While efficient, Nami is brusque and course, choosing her path with utter disregard of anyone who happens to be in the way and disregarding most of her charge's questions and requests in order to get her ask over with the quickest. It is through Nami's rudeness that Rochelle has her first contact, if cut short by Nami as well, with other Monster High students: Lagoona Blue and Clawdeen Wolf. After a tour that leaves her with as many questions as she's gotten answers, Rochelle is dropped off in the dormitory waiting area for Mr. D'eath to arrive and show her and the other new boarders their rooms. ;Chapter Two In stark contrast to Ms. Nami, Mr. D'eath immediately earns Rochelle's sympathy. He is a man with low self-esteem and not even the pride to hide it. One by one, he assigns the students their form rooms, heavily sighing in between. Vampire twin sisters Rose and Blanche Van Sangre get to share a room, though they note that they dislike having to sleep in the same spot for long. Pumpkin heads Marvin, James, and Sam also get to share a room, while Three-Headed Freddie, on account of having three heads that all talk in their sleep, gets a room alone. Cy Clops and Henry Hunchback are another duo to share a room, while Hoodude Voodoo gets a room on his own so he has space for his shrine in honor of Frankie Stein. Rochelle is told she is to share her room with Venus McFlytrap and Robecca Steam. Looking around, Rochelle sees only one girl, Venus, who smiles at her. ;Chapter Three Venus and Rochelle assess their dorm room together. Rochelle likes how it looks, but Venus immediately finds eco-unfriendly faults everywhere, though she accepts she has to live with most of them. She introduces Rochelle to her pet plant, Chewlian, warning her to watch his teeth because he has trouble separating food from friend, while Rochelle introduces her to her perpetually happy pet gargoyle-griffin, Roux. Their conversation is cut short as their missing roommate comes barrelling in, both physically and verbally. Venus reminds her they have yet to introduce, shocking Robecca out of her stream-of-consciousness. She apologizes and acquaints herself with the other two, noting that time is her big weakness. No matter what she does, she can't keep track of time and always is late. Curious to test this, Rochelle and Venus have her watch the clock for when they have to leave for the assembly in the vampitheater while they continue discussing how to optimize the room for their stay. As they talk about the merits and faults of creating a compost pile under their window, Robecca suddenly calls out she'd been distracted and that they are already several minutes late. The trio promptly runs out to salvage the situation as much as still possible, vaguely aware they don't even know where the vampitheater is. ;Chapter Four While searching through the corridors for any sort of hint where the vampitheater is located, the trio encounters a grotesque troll who stares at them menacingly and questions what they are doing in the halls. They explain they are looking for the vampitheater and ask for directions. After a moment of intent staring, the troll points them in the right direction, but promises he will eat them next time he sees them loitering. The girls are horrified, but have the assembly to worry about. They arrive in time for Headless Headmistress Bloodgood's introduction speech, but too late to sit any more comfortably than on the floor. Bloodgood, who has been hit by lightning during summer and has a case of Muddled-Mind Syndrome, has trouble getting through her speech, but gets the necessary help from Nami to properly welcome the students to a new school year and hand the microphone to Frankie Stein and Draculaura for the next part of the assembly. The two welcome the students to the new school year as well and follow it up by introducing the new Dragon Whispering 101 teacher, Sylphia Flapper, and her gaggle of trolls who'll be put to use as hall monitors. Flapper's beauty and captivating voice immediately endears her to the students. Fourth and final to say a piece are Cleo and Deuce, who relay the schedule for the Dance of the Delightfully Dead at the Skelemoanian at the end of the semester. Once that's over, Nami shoos everyone out to attend their classes. Venus, Rochelle, and Robecca are delighted to find they share classes, but have a problem when none of them knows where their first class, Ghoulish Literature, is held. Fortunately, Frankie and Ghoulia walk by as the vampitheater empties and they helpfully point them in the direction of the libury. ;Chapter Five The students who have Ghoulish Literature for the first time find that the teacher, Mr. Clamdestine, is both odd and theatrical. He makes a show of staying silent to cleanse his mental palate and tricking his students into thinking he's going smoke in class while actually his pipe is made of cheese and will be his lunch later that day. Quickly exhausted, the students use the roll call that follows to check one another. Rochelle finds herself drawn to Deuce and his beautiful green eyes and has to forcibly remind herself that he has a girlfriend, Cleo, and she has a boyfriend, Garrott. Meanwhile, Venus is taking note of Cleo for entirely different reasons, namely the irksome amount of shopping bags she has with her. Unwilling to let it slide, she calls out to the mummy to tell her to take a reusable shopping bag with her to stores next time. Cleo does not respond well to the new student telling her what to do and it escalates into Venus using her pollens of persuasion on Cleo. Everyone is shocked when Cleo suddenly starts to thank Venus and announces her design ideas for a reusable bag, but Clamdestine knows what happened. Though he let the two girls argue because of their repsective passionate performances, he cannot condone Venus using her pollens to get her way. He summons one of the trolls monitoring the halls to escort Venus to Bloodgood's office and Venus goes along quietly, ashamed of her actions. However, she never makes it to Bloodgood's office as the troll, who has a characteristic red nose, starts blabbering about bad things happening and that they need to be stopped. Before Venus can get anything coherent out of him, he runs off. ;Chapter Six The next class for the day is Mad Science by Mr. Hackington. He asks the students if they know what Burnwidth Serum turns into when heated to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Only Cy knows it turns into a zombification serum for cold-blood creatures, which pleases Hackington and establishes Cy as one of the smart kids among his peers. Mad Science is followed by Home Ick and Home Ick is followed by Physical Deaducation, in which the students unwind from their first few hours sitting still. Rochelle and Venus sign up for Graveyard Dancing, while Henry, Cy, and Robecca participate in Skultimate Roller Maze. Robecca is an instant favorite of the team due to her ability to fly and fetch lost teammates, but the excitement distracts her badly enough for her not to notice when Physical Deaducation is over. She remains in the maze for hours before she realizes her error and rushes back to the hallways, where she bumps into Frankie and Clawdeen. She begs them to tell her the time, because she lost her iCoffin, but instead of them, Cy, who shows up behind her, gives her the time: 5pm. He also gives her Captain Penny, whom Robecca had left behind in the maze. Robecca is grateful, but embarrassed. Frankie and Clawdeen take the moment to ask her if she and her roommates would like to join the Frightingale Society, a sort of sorority. Robecca notes she'd love to, but that both she and Rochelle will pass on the offer as long as the situation between Venus and Cleo is not resolved. ;Chapter Seven At lunch the next day, the creepateria abuzz with talk about Sylphia Flapper, who has become a very popular presence at the school. Venus and Robecca have their mind on another staff member though, courtesy of Rochelle. The three observe D'eath for a while as he has lunch with Nami, trying to figure out if the grey cloud enveloping him is standard behavior or merely the result of spending time in her company. Because he stays that way even after Nami has left, Rochelle gets up to talk with him. Her origin gives her an opening easily enough, as it turns out that it is a dream of D'eath to visit Scaris once, though not one he expects to ever be fulfilled. Rochelle urges him to let her help him get out of his negative mindset, which D'eath is hesitant to allow because students and staff getting close is improper. But as it is merely a guideline and not a solid rule, Rochelle does not care and manages to convince him to give her a chance. ;Chapter Eight That night, as the entire dormitory prepares for sleep, Venus tells Rochelle and Robecca about the peculiar troll she was sent off with after Ghoulish Literature and what appears to be a cryptic warning. Not knowing what to do with it, the girls go to sleep, only to be awakened early the next morning by Robecca. Certain she has overslept again, she loudly jumps out of bed before her roommates inform her it's only 06:30. Relieved, Robecca decides to use her extra time to give Captain Penny a gear grease and proclaims she'll meet her friends at 07:30 in the creepateria. Of course, she does not show up and even misses the morning assembly. D'eath, however, is present, and Rochelle uses the opportunity to talk with him about a fashion update. Her attention flows elsewhere when she spots Deuce trip on a troll and she rushes to his aid. Handing him back his glass, Deuce notes he's lucky she was around, since his gorgon stare has no effect on gargoyles. Rochelle, losing herself in his beauty again, replies she's lucky to be unaffected by his stare. It only takes a little longer of tacky flirting before Venus pulls her away, embarrassed on behalf of her friend. Rochelle is not pleased, but with Home Ick in only a few minutes starting a fight is pointless. ;Chapter Nine On the way to Home Ick, the two girls spot Flapper going from student to student to whisper something in their ears. Confused, they speculate she is inviting everyone for her after school club, Monster Advancement League League, or MALL for short. Suddenly, Flapper comes for Rochelle. Overcome by the teacher's rose perfume, reminding her of the rosebush Garrott created just for her, Rochelle stands as frozen. What saves her is coincidental chaotic arrival of Robecca, finally back after her pet's gear grease. After bumping into Cy for the umpteenth time, Robecca joins her friends and the three walk on to Home Ick. The teacher, Ms. Kindergrubber, has the students make Crispy Tongue Soup. Cy has trouble concentrating because he is seated directly behind Robecca, but he manages. Three-Headed Freddie produces the best soup. After class, the pumpkin heads pass out flyers for MALL, but are unable to provide clarity what the club does. After school that day, Rochelle proudly unveils a project she'd been working on to her roommates: a new, exclusive suit for D'eath. Unfortunately, Rochelle is not a good tailor and her sharp claws aren't of assistance either. The suit looks terrible. Venus points out that Rochelle needs help and proposes they go look for Frankie, who is a talented seamstress, and ask if she's willing to help out. Rochelle concurs she can't do it alone and the trio heads into town to find Frankie. After some searching in the Maul, they find her inside the Coffin Bean. Troublesomely, it turns out the Coffin Bean is the meeting place of MALL. Flapper spots the girls instantly and welcomes them hopefully. Wary, they ask her what MALL does, but she's barely less crytpic than the pumpkin heads, saying the club helps monsters get a place in a world owned by humans. The three quickly pass by her to Frankie, promising Flapper to consider the invitation at a later date. ;Chapter Ten Though behaving oddly stoic, Frankie is eager to help, especially when she hears the suit is Rochelle's way of helping D'eath. She promises to get Clawdeen involved for the design work and the girls can come get the suit at Flapper's office the next day. Happy, the three return to Monster High, where they stop at the post room. Venus has letters from her younger brothers, but Rochelle has nothing. She wonders if Garrott has replaced her with another gargoyle and is not sure if she's sad about that because it makes her crush on Deuce easier. After joining D'eath for a gloomy dinner in the creepateria, the girls go to sleep and make their way to Flapper's office at lunchtime the next morning. Frankie and Clawdeen join them in a moment and both Rochelle and her friends are deeply impressed with the green suit with silver stitches. But the two designers aren't acting any more sensical than Frankie did the previous day and rather abruptly ask if the other three have joined MALL yet. Venus lies they'll do it in the afternoon, which appeases Frankie and Clawdeen. Frankie continues that they talked about Rochelle's project with Flapper and that Flapper has volunteered to be D'eath's date. The girls are hard-pressed to believe a woman like her would willingly spend time with D'eath, but just then Flapper joins the conversation and confirms the claim. Rochelle is elated, but all of a sudden Flapper is invading her personal space a second time, speaking again about monsters needing to take what the humans aren't willing to share. Venus's quick thinking and boldness as well as the arrival of Bloodgood and Nami gives the girls a chance to get away. ;Chapter Eleven During Ghoulish Literature, Clamdestine, now also behaving peculiarly, announces some changes to the syllabus to promote more monster-positivity. He does not hide it is Flapper who convinced him of this change. Rochelle doesn't give it much thought, as she is more worried about making sure she's up to date on the new material. Making her way to Study Howl, Deuce catches up to her and asks her if she's willing to talk about a delicate matter. Rochelle practically floats after him, barely coming to her senses to actually listen when he starts talking. As it turns out, Deuce is worried about Cleo and most of the rest of the student body, as they've all been acting as if in a trance lately. He wants to know if Rochelle noticed this too or if it's him being paranoid. Rochelle's answer is reserved: as monsters, aren't they always acting weird? The reply makes Deuce laugh, making Rochelle feel light in her head all the way back to her dorm room, where she is in for a difficult surprise. A DeadEx delivery man is standing at the entrance of the dormitory with a package and Rochelle has no doubts about the sender or receiver. She signs for the package and rushes to the common room with it. Instead of opening it, she lays it down and starts crying. Tears keep flowing until Venus arrives, hears the story, and rips open the large envelope. Improvising, she tells Rochelle that the bad news is that it's a love poem and that the good news is that it's a terrible one. When Rochelle reacts with confusion, she elaborates that the poem proves that Garrott is not perfect, so neither does she have to be perfect. Testing her, Venus threatens to throw the poem away, but Rochelle demands it back as anticipated. With the poem in hand, Rochelle remembers lesser sides of Garrott, like his aggression towards pigeons who mistake him for a statue. It makes her feel better about her own faults. Noting the change in demeanor, Venus warns her they should get ready or they'll be late to see D'eath off on his first date. ;Chapter Twelve Returning to their dorm room to look for Robecca so she can come along to see of D'eath, Venus is less than pleased to see that the Van Sangre sisters have taken up camp inside. She chases them out, then hands down to D'eath's office, finding Robecca on the way. D'eath is nervous, but the girls assure him his new suit makes him look great and give him some final tips on what habits of his to mind and what manners to display. After dropping him off at Flapper's classroom, the girls return to their dorm room, but Venus spots her red-nosed troll motioning for her on the way. She makes up a weak excuse to follow him, not sure what to expect. Away from prying eyes and ears, the red-nosed troll takes his time to be clearer, revealing that Flapper is not a dragon whisperer but a monster whisperer and that MALL is part of her scheme to get mind control over everyone. He is the only troll still free from her influence and Venus and her friends are among the few students who have yet escaped her. Distraught and confused, but nonetheless certain of the troll's honesty, Venus leaves goes back to her dorm room to think. Meanwhile, Robecca hadn't reached the dorm room in one go either, opting to go for a few rounds of SKRM in the maze with Captain Penny. She had meant to cheer her pet up, but instead, she lost him again. Panicking slightly, Robecca's worries are eased when Cy shows up with Captain Penny once more too. She notes that he's always nearby to tell her the time or return Captain Penny to here, and Cy finally admits he has been following her. He explains that he fancies her, at first for her looks, but as the school environment became weird, he wanted to make sure she was safe. Puzzled, Robecca asks what possibly could happen at school. Cy relays an observation he recently made while walking into the dungeon while MALL was using it for a meeting. Instead of happy chatting, there was eerie whispering. Scared, Robecca accepts Cy's offer to walk with her back to the dormitory. ;Chapter Thirteen It takes Rochelle days, but finally she is able to locate D'eath and ask him about his date. But unlike anything she expected, D'eath reacts hostile towards her. He praises "the Flap", Flapper's new title, as if she were the savior herself and warns Rochelle that is she tries to undermine her, she will be dealt with. On the verge of tears, Rochelle leaves quickly, hurt and scared by D'eath's new attitude. She rushes to her dorm room to speak with Robecca and Venus, who have their own stories to share from a few days ago. Deciding that something needs to be done, they first consider going to Headmistress Bloodgood, but drop that tactic because of her case of Muddled-Mind Syndrome. The second option is to get Nami involved, who may be rude but gets things done. This is the course taken and the trio make their way to the graveyard, where Nami ostensively should be looking into a case of unauthorized gardening. It is not Nami they find, however, but Flapper and Deuce. Too late to make it over in time, the three are forced to see Deuce fall under Flapper's spell. Rochelle can't control herself and shouts out for him, betraying their presence. Flapper immediately gives chase and the three start running across the courtyard until they are stopped by a troll. He orders them to follow him to see the Flap, but they run from him too, aware he won't tell on them as it would mean admitting they outran him. Through it all, they do find Nami and beg her to believe and help him. Nami, rude but not unreasonable, hesitates not a moment to believe and to act, advising the girls to return to the safety of their dorm room for the time being. ;Chapter Fourteen Barely after arriving in their room, there's knocking on their door. It is Cy, who has no clue who to turn to anymore but for the trio. He responds to the news that Nami is dealing with Flapper with severe doubt, worried that none of them know what exactly they are up against. He elaborates that Flapper has the entire school under her control now, including his roommate Henry, who went to investigate after Cy told him about the whispered meetings too. Put off by the news, Venus has the group relocate in the bell tower, where people aren't likely to search for them. They wait and wait and wait, but nothing below and outside seems to change. The quartet ponders on what to do when an announcement from the hallways reaches up into the belfry, calling for an emergency meeting in the vampitheater. Aware that it could be a trap, they nonetheless hope it's Nami announcing the end of Flapper's schemes and take the risk of climbing down and heading over to the vampitheater. They take seats in the final row and are momentarily relieved when they see Bloodgood, in the company of Nami, walk up to the stand. But she does not announce the removal of Flapper from school grounds. Quite the opposite - she announces that she resigns as headmistress and that she will be succeeded by the Flap. Flapper takes the stage, dressed in military couture and surrounded by equally military-looking trolls. Looking at the crowd coldly, she declares Monster High to be at the center of a new empire that will raise monsters over humans. Everyone is to carry their weight and more, and any and all voices of dissent are the enemy. Having seen and heard enough, the quartet makes a hasty retreat. Outside the vampitheater, they are confronted with freshly plastered-around wanted posters with their own faces staring back at them. Venus leads the group to the SKRM maze to hide and design a new strategy. The first action they come up with is to get the police involved, but the proposal is rejected out of fear what happened to Nami will repeat and make the range of Flapper's power even bigger. Venus recalls Cy's worries from when he joined them and has the group analyze their opponent. They know she transferred from a school in Bitealy and surmise that it could be useful to contact her old school to learn more about her. But in order to get the name and contact info of the school, they'll have to break into the main office to acquire Flapper's personnel file. ;Chapter Fifteen The quartet waits for nightfall, when there are less students around, before they leave the safety of the maze under the guidance of Venus. They make it to Bloodgood's former office with little trouble and Rochelle destroys the lock with ease. The quartet splits up to find the file as quickly as possible, with Rochelle taking a seat at the central desk as she goes through the papers atop. The chair is not built with gargoyles in mind, though, and breaks apart under the weight of her stone body. The first one to come to her aid is not one of her friends, but Deuce, who happened to be walking by. At first he behaves normally and kindly, giving Rochelle some hope, but then the mind-control kicks in and he threatens to take her to Flapper. Venus jumps in, attempting to take over from Flapper by hitting Deuce with her pollens of persuasion, but Flapper's spell is stronger. The quartet rushes out of the office, outrunning Deuce only by luck, and returns to the maze. Once there, Cy reveals he found Flapper's personnel file mere seconds before Deuce came in, so the first part of their plan did work out. The file shows that Flapper transferred from Accademia de Monstro in northern Bitealy and Cy offers to break into a classroom to get access to a telephone with international dialing. He reasons that alone he has a lesser chance of being spotted and he knows some Bitealian thanks to Three-Headed Freddie. Rochelle gives him a hatpin and tells him to go to the libury, since it's the closest classroom with the sought-for kind of telephone. Cy does not encounter trouble on his way to the telephone and upon calling, he immediately gets hold of the school's headmaster, Signore Vitriola. The man audibly tenses upon hearing Flapper's name and wants to hang up when Cy mentions the whisper. Cy begs him to help, upon which Vitriola instructs him to find the Crybrary, a secret library for the highly classified books every school has, and find his answers there. ;Chapter Sixteen Lucky for the quartet, the blueprints of Monster High are stored in the maze among several other items Bloodgood had yet to make proper room for. The analyze the unidentified chambers on it and settle on the largest. Upon investigation, it turns out to be nothing more than a janitor's closet. They return to the maze disappointedly and fail to find another room on the blueprints that seems of realistic size. While Cy continues to look, the girls choose to catch a moment of sleep. After a while, Cy realizes the error in their logic: there is no reason for them to be looking for a large room, because the Crybrary is only made to hold knowledge few are allowed to know. Waking up the girls, Cy sets his sight on the smallest room on the blueprints, which coincidentally is just next to the janitor's closest they visited earlier. The girls agree with his explanation and follow him. Once back in the closet, Cy experiments with all its facilities and equipment to find the way inside the adjacent room, but it's only when Venus kicks the doorjamb in frustration that they notice the ladder on the ceiling. Cy climbs up it, finding a passageway from which he is supposed to lower himself in the Crybrary. As promised, there's rows and rows of dusty books that are all chained to the walls, one of which conveniently titled Monster Whisperer. Cy returns to the closet to relay his discovery and decide on who is best to scan the book for the information they need. Cy is picked to prevent a fight between Venus and Rochelle and gets his hands on the solution in ten minutes. The solution, however, is far from simple. They need to make Flapper swallow one teaspoon of ground Fernish Bush at midnight while a recently zombified snake is wrapped around her neck. The ingredients are easy enough to obtain as they are part of the stock in the Mad Science and Home Ick classrooms, but the timing and strategy require more luck than plan. The quartet decides to throw their one chance on the gathering during the Dance of the Delightfully Dead in a few nights. Because the place will be guarded and they are wanted, they dress up in werewolf costumes from the Wolfler on the Roof school production from the Drama department. ;Chapter Seventeen The quartet makes its way through the forest to the Skelemoanian, having to hide twice. The first time it's the pumpkin head trio that pass by, the second a formation of troll led by Nami. Seeing their headstrong Deputy of Disaster drained of her bite does not do the moral of the quartet any good. At the edge of the cemetery at about a quarter before midnight, they make the final preparations and observe the security. Flapper spared no effort on making the place impenetrable to her enemies, which is why the quartet opts to rely solely on the costumes to get inside. Pretending to be family of Clawdeen, Rochelle and Venus are noticed by security, but Robecca and Cy are too nervous to pull off convincing werewolves. The trolls prepare to call Nami, but the red-nosed troll comes to the quartet's aid, claiming their behavior is normal for werewolves and they should not cause an unnecessary panic. At the dancefloor itself, the three girls witness what Cy had before: all the students are sitting down and whispering to one another. Flapper observes the proceedings from a stage in the middle of the cemetery grounds. After one final encouragement, the quartet splits in three different directions, with Cy accompanying Robecca to keep her focussed. At 11:59:30, Rochelle is the first to act. She jumps on the stage, drawing the trolls' attention, and makes a dash for Flapper. She flings herself around the woman's legs, anchoring her to the spot. Venus and Robecca create clouds, respectively of pollen and of steam, to limit the sight of the incoming trolls after which Venus gets on stage and flings the snake around Flapper's neck. Robecca steams her in the face for the final act: as she screams in agitation, Cy drops the teaspoon of ground Fernish Bush in her mouth. As the four struggle to ensure Flapper swallows it all, they throw hopeful glances at the crowd. At first their fellow students and teachers fall silent, but then they start yawning and stretching as if waking up. Slowly, they start asking questions - questions that all inevitably lead to Sylphia Flapper, who is the last person all can remember before waking up at the Skelemoanian. Flapper doesn't answer, instead asking who all of them are as she can't remember anything either. Nami creates some order by shooing everyone back to school grounds and into the vampitheater for Venus, Rochelle, Robecca, and Cy to explain what happened. While everyone is shocked by what the quartet has to say, Flapper starts crying uncontrollably, insisting nothing she did was her intent. Nami and the quartet are hesitant to believe her, but everyone else does, so she is allowed to continue teaching now that the whisper is away. The trolls are also allowed to stay, as they are efficient hall monitors. In fact, the entire school, staff and students alike, pulls together to catch up on the lost time and rebuild the atmosphere of Monster High. The four aren't at ease that no more questions are asked, like even if Flapper is innocent, who made her do what she did and why? But among the mood of restoration in the hallways, their worries are overwhelmed and eventually forgotten. ;Epilogue Two months later, Cy receives a package from Vitriola. It warns him that "they" will come back and that he must remain on guard to save the school again. Characters Notes References * "Rochelle certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore!" is a play on the quote-turned-idiom "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." from the 1939 movie adaption of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Later in the book, mention is made of The Wonderful Wizard of Clawz, a play on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. * "Gillary Clinton" is a reference to Hillary Clinton. * "Dr. Ghoulittle" is a play on the 1920-launched book series Doctor Dolittle. * "Grislyland" is a play on Disneyland. * "A Midsummer's Night Scream" is a play on the 1590s comedy play A Midsummer Night's Dream. * "The Frightingale Society" is a play on The Nightingale Society. * "Abnerzombie and Witch" is a play on Abercrombie & Fitch.'' * "Lord Siren" is a reference to Lord Byron. * "''Alice's Adventures in Zombieland" is a play on the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. * "Wolfler on the Roof" is a play on the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. Continuity * While noted to be new, the on-campus dormitory in the east wing's second floor is an aspect of Monster High unique to the Ghoulfriends book series. * Robecca notes she previously lived at Kindergrubber's, as per her 'Between Classes' diary. * The Skelemoanian might be the cemetery often shown in the cartoon. It is explicitly said to be one of several in New Salem, so it does not have to be the case. Milestones * 33 characters make their Ghoulfriends debuts, as do the bullfrogs and trolls. Holt Hyde is mentioned, but it's unclear if he's ever the active half. * Sylphia Flapper, Sue Nami, Clamdestine, Garrott du Roque, and Cy Clops make their fiction debuts. * Skelen Moania is mentioned. She has yet to debut in any fiction. Errors * At the end of Chapter 6, "Rochelle" is written where "Robecca" should be. * Robecca and Venus independently figure out what is going on at Monster High in Chapter 12, but neither talks about it with anyone until Chapter 13, which takes place days later. Have they just been following classes like the school isn't being hypnotized around them in the meantime? * The influence of the whisper on monsters is not consistent. Some lose their expression of emotions, others keep it. Deuce switches between the two states, but it's not explained why he has moments of self when others don't in similar non-pressure situations. Equally so, the pumpkin heads dress in their "finest attire" to attend the Dance of the Delightfully Dead, while Cleo does not care about her outfits while under the influence of the whisper. One can speculate that the whisper affects monsters differently depending on their willingness to cooperate with the new thoughts and their importance to Flapper, but the text itself does not go into detail. *Rochelle's old school before coming to Monster High is listed as École de Gargouille. In the cartoon continuity, it is Granite City High. Other * This book reveals that Venus has siblings, specifically younger brothers. * Coach Igor and Clawd Wolf are mentioned, but have no role in the events of the book. *"Van Sangre" is a peculiar last name for Romanian characters to have, because the "van" part is Dutch for "from" or "of" and "sangre" is Spanish for "blood". Category:Books